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Students exiting Cert will not be able to access “highly confidential” details of their class ranking under the new grading process calculated after pressure from teacher unions.
High schools were required to provide an estimated grade for each student, along with a ranking order of students for each class, and submit this information to the Department of Education.
All Leaving Cert students had the right to view this information online from September 14, one week after receiving their calculated grades, in the interest of transparency in the grading process.
However, a department spokeswoman confirmed last night that students will now not have access to their class ranking.
Instead, they will only have access to the estimated percentage marks provided by their schools.
“The department is seeking legal advice on the issue of providing a class ranking order to candidates. This position has been reported to the stakeholder advisory group and a further update will be provided to them as soon as possible, ”the spokeswoman said.
The alarm continues among teacher unions that the measure could damage relationships with students and affect student morale.
Some teachers in rural areas, in particular, are concerned about how neighbors, relatives or friends will receive the information in their classes.
Calculated grades
Speaking during an Oireachtas committee meeting on Wednesday night, before the department’s nightly announcement, Education Minister Norma Foley said a process had been agreed upon and that students had a right to their personal data.
However, he confirmed that a query had been raised on the matter.
“We are currently receiving advice on that. That’s where it is right now, ”she said.
Martin Marjoram, chairman of the Teachers Union of Ireland, said the information was “extraordinarily sensitive” and members had a “clear understanding” that it would only be disclosed in an appeal or data request process.
“We were dismayed to hear something different and that it was available through a portal.
“Our members cooperated in something that was almost anathema to them, to put those rankings on paper and put on paper the position of the children they had supported and maintained in school and whose morale they had raised,” Marjoram said. .
Kieran Christie, general secretary of the Irish Secondary Teachers Association, said the union has also made strong representations to the department.
In comments made before the department’s announcement, he said: “We are beating that drum together in the hope of the department for a resolution sooner rather than later. We are working hard on it. We were surprised that the plans were presented. The members are not happy and we are going to do something about it. “
The two high school teacher unions are understood to have held a series of meetings with the department in recent weeks, after The Irish Times reported earlier this month that students would have access to their class ranking data.
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